


It’s the same game I play

by sunburst_city



Series: It's only a Crime if I Get Caught [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Akaashi is an art forger, Alternate Universe - Crime, Alternate Universe - Thieves, Bokuto is a hitman, Con Artists, Crime!AU, Kenma is an information broker slash hacker slash street artist, Kuroo is a con artist, M/M, POV Third Person Limited, That’s why Kuroo’s name is Kuro, Third Person Kenma POV, heavily inspired by Cat from The World Ends With You
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:15:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24498556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunburst_city/pseuds/sunburst_city
Summary: The day after a two-bit thug tried to kill Akaashi, Kenma gets visitors.(Nothing much happens.)
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji & Bokuto Koutarou & Kozume Kenma & Kuroo Tetsurou, Minor or Background Relationship(s), like... you gotta squint until your eyes close, very mild kuroken and bokuaka
Series: It's only a Crime if I Get Caught [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/487382
Comments: 5
Kudos: 30





	It’s the same game I play

**Author's Note:**

> This is set the day after the events in the first story in this series. It’s an old world-building exercise I found in one of my folders and when I say nothing much happens, I really do mean nothing happens.
> 
> Title from High Hopes in Velvet Ropes by The Cab.

Shinjuku is really cold this morning.

Not that the weather ever really affects the temperature in this part of the apartment, anyway. The entirety of the small room is temperature-regulated to keep the servers cool, and Kenma can't turn the heating up without risking his rig overheating. That leaves him to curl up in a warm coat while he runs a diagnostic check on the system.

Once the check finishes and nothing is amiss, Kenma hightails out of the refurbished storage closet and back into his usual, much warmer workspace/studio. He shrugs off his coat, hangs it on the hook on the server room door, and settles down in front of one of his desks.

On the desk are the new ^CAT^ designs for the Shibuya station exit closest to the Crossing. These ones will be invisible until they come in contact with water, showing two large murals: one of a grumpy, soaked cat, and another of a happy, fluffy cat holding an umbrella patterned with ^CAT^’s signature logo.

It'll be a hassle to install, but it'll definitely be a spectacle, especially with the rainy season starting. More people stopping to gawk, more time for Kenma's equipment to siphon information from the gadgets of passers-by. That is, if he even has time to install them today. Kenma already has all the materials and tech he needs for the installation, but there's still the matter of the incident last night.

Koutarou called late last night after the alarm linked to Keiji's apartment went off, saying that something happened but they were okay. He and Keiji would probably be dropping by today. 

They better; Kenma will visit them himself and pester them if they don't.

Kuro saunters into the room, bare feet padding quietly across the floor as he approaches Kenma.

"Done with the check?" He asks. Kenma nods.

"What time will Koutarou and Keiji come by?" He asks, pulling out the surveillance beacons he plans on using for the installation.

"Akaashi texted me just now and said they're a few stops away."

Kenma's eyes glance at Kuro’s casual black shirt and jeans. "You don't have work today?"

"Nah. Took the night off, too. Told the club it was an emergency."

Kenma nods. He spends the wait for Koutarou and Keiji checking the surveillance beacons, making sure they're all functioning correctly and are proofed against water and other weather conditions since they're going to be installed outside. Kuro, meanwhile, goes back to their apartment's living room.

The door rings at around 10AM. Kenma can hear Koutarou and Keiji as Kuro lets them in. Kenma swipes a tablet from his other desk before heading out into the main room.

Immediately, Kenma's eyes lock onto Koutarou and Keiji, taking stock of their current state. Neither of them seem injured, though Keiji seems a little more paranoid than normal. Kenma is willing to bet they doubled back twice before coming here, just to shake off anyone who might be following them.

"Alright," Kuro comes back from the kitchen with drinks for all of them. He plops down on the couch, and the other three follow, with Kenma next to him and Keiji and Koutarou settling on the couch across, "so what tripped the alarm at your apartment last night?"

Keiji speaks up. "Someone tried to kill me last night. A cheap hitman."

Kenma's brows shoot up and Kuro whistles lowly.

"How'd you know it was a hired hit and not just some shitty cat burglar?"

"I managed to pry it out of him before Bokuto-san shot him." Keiji says, going into an explanation of last night’s events.

Kuro leans forward with a piqued smirk. "Ohohoho? Not bad, Akaashi. I could make a shill out of you yet."

"Thanks, but con artistry isn't in my repertoire, Kuroo-san." Keiji pulls out a sheaf of papers from his bag before handing them to Kenma. "Here's how he looked like."

"Why didn't you guys just take a picture?" Kuro asks, looking over Kenma's shoulder as the latter takes them.

Bokuto gets a dumbfounded look on his face. Keiji flushes lightly and refuses to meet their eyes.

"....Huh," is all Koutarou has to say, just as Keiji grits out "Lighting’s bad at the apartment," as an excuse. Kuro bursts into braying laughter. Kenma lets a small smile slip.

"This is fine." He says. Keiji's sketches are always better than any police department's composite sketches, and are just as good as any photograph.

Kenma shuffles through the papers. True enough, Keiji has sketched the man's face and build from various angles, enough to make a fairly accurate 3D model. There are even some of different stances, enough for Kenma's program to figure out some basic body language of the hitman and run a search with that, increasing the accuracy of the returned results. Kenma smiles.

He takes pictures of the sketches with his tablet's camera, which he then sends to his computer in the studio to run through different programs. Without a word, he stands up and goes into the studio.

In the studio, Kenma heads for the second desk, where a 3-monitor computer rig is set up. He first runs the front-facing sketch of Keiji's assassin's face through a facial recognition script connected to different government and corporate databases, and the database Kenma has compiled of known players in the Underground. He leaves that program running on the rightmost monitor. 

Kenma then selects the correct images to create a 3D render of the assassin's head. He runs that and Keiji's sketches of the man's gait through another program, this one taking up the remaining two monitors. The program will go through the video feed from all CCTV cameras around the area of Keiji's apartment during the time of the break-in last night. If the assassin was in view of a camera, Kenma could trace where he came from before dropping into Keiji's apartment. 

"Hey, Kenma, are these your new plans?"

Kenma startles out of his thoughts. He wasn't even aware that Kuro, Keiji, and Koutarou followed him into the studio. 

"Yeah," he replies to Koutarou. "They should be up by tomorrow morning."

"Neat. Let me and Keiji know if you want any help."

Kenma just hums, turning his attention back to the monitors while his neck prickles from is Kuro’s stare. 

Kuro once told him that there is nothing quite like watching apl_pi at work. Then again, Kuro is also an enormous sap, so Kenma doesn't put much stock in what he said. Regardless, there is no doubt that Kenma is... Intensely Kenma when he is in his element, and something about it holds Kuro's attention, to Kenma's embarrassment. 

They all shuffle back into the living room while they wait, catching up with what has happened since they all last saw each other.

An hour later, his program chirps, causing Kenma to look back to the monitors. 137 total potential matches from the two programs; pretty standard, but it's the top hit that makes him pause.

Kenma frowns, runs the program again just on the first hit, and still gets a 81.57% match. Way too high, especially considering the area he was found in.

Perturbed, Kenma brings up a photo of the man Kenma's program found to be the most likely hit. "Is that him?"

Keiji and Koutarou both take a look before nodding. "That's him alright." Koutarou confirms.

"He's one of Tooru's." Kenma says with a frown.

Kuro starts, not expecting that. "He's in Seijou?"

Kenma nods. On the center monitor, he pulls up a video feed and stills of the man exiting a building they know to be owned by the Aoba Johsai gang.

"He doesn't seem comfortable. Body language says he isn't used to his environment." Keiji comments, earning an agreeing hum from Kuro.

"New recruit, probably. One of the pawns, if he even ranks at all." Kenma adds. His face didn't ping in the Underground database. He could be one of Aoba Johsai's elusive higher-ups, but given Keiji's observation, it seems more likely that the assassin was a new player. Besides, Kenma doesn't think any Seijou member higher than a pawn would be careless enough to expose his entire face to a camera.

Koutarou frowns. "Pretty Boy wouldn't try to kill Akaashi, would he?"

Kuro shakes his head. "Nah. Oikawa can be an asshole, but he isn't dumb. He doesn't gain anything from killing Akaashi." He glances at Keiji. "No offense, Akaashi."

"None taken."

"Besides, Oikawa knows about Bo. If he really wanted Akaashi killed for some reason, he wouldn't have sent someone who would get caught like that."

"So, what, is our buddy a disgruntled member? Unacknowledged so he gets his hits from somewhere else?" Koutarou suggests. 

"Disgruntled, probably. Unacknowledged? Nah." Kuro continues, "Aoba Johsai has been pretty meritocratic ever since Oikawa took over. He believes in acknowledging those who work hard and do well. If our guy thinks he's being shortchanged, then he's got a pretty huge head."

"There's still the matter of who hired the hit." Akaashi says. "If it wasn't Oikawa, then who was it?"

"Don't know, but I do know how we can find out."

Koutarou tilts his head. "How?"

"We cash in an old favor." 

Kuro pulls out a white card from his wallet, blank except for a small metallic blue seal on one side. Kenma's brow furrows. How is a blank business card going to help them?

"Guess it's time to put this to use, then. Be right back." Kuro says, still making absolutely no sense. He disappears out of the studio. Koutarou follows him curiously. 

Meanwhile, Kenma rewinds the video feed outside the Aoba building even further and runs the program again, trying to see if their assassin ever appears with someone.

The program pings with another match to their assassin. This time, when the assassin appears on screen, he is talking to somebody.

Keiji leans over his shoulder and points at the screen as the video feed plays. " _This_ guy," he says, pointing at the assassin's companion, "He's hiding something." 

Kuro and Koutarou come back with the card: a little singed now, but with new writing that Kenma sees to be a phone number, which Kuro is already in the process of calling.

On the video feed, the assassin walks away from the Aoba building, while his companion moves to go back in. The latter moves just enough for the camera to get a slightly blurry glimpse of his face. Kenma pauses the video and does his best to clean up the picture. 

"Kuro." Kuro takes a look at the monitor, and immediately catches on. 

"Hey, Oi— Uhh, this is _apl_pi_. Oikawa gave me this card a few years back.” He pauses, and then, “Iwaizumi? Kuroo. We have something to tell you."

**Author's Note:**

> If you didn't catch the memo Kenma doublehats as a street artist named ^CAT^ (just pronounced “cat”) and a hacker/information broker called apl_pi. 
> 
> Kuroo's right, Akaashi; why didnt you just take a picture? (the answer is I did not think that part through in the BokuAka leg of the story)


End file.
